973.7L63 

BC19a 

1923 


Carlton,  Mabel  Mason. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  "Savior  of 
His  Country. " 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN 

Savior  of  His  Country" 


Lincoln's  early  law  training 
was  derived  from  borrowed 
books,  read  by  the  light  of  a 
pitch-knot  fire. 


Abraham  Lincoln 

"Savior  of  his  Country" 


BY 

Mabel  Mason  Carlton 


LIBRARY 
Lincoln  Itomorial  University 

Harrogate,  Tennessee 

Presented  with  the  Compliments  of 


Life  Insurance  Company 

of  Boston.  Massachusetts 

THE  OLD,  RELIABLE  COMPANY 


■&&+- 


^J^Ay^t^irx^ 


That  Government  of  the 
People,  by  the  People,  for 
the  People,  shall  not  per- 
ish from  the  Earth, 


L. 


A 


iru  vym  mm  rrrwrw  muriruuuwiuiytfuuu'nuuuuB  y  uifiruuuui;u  <*SJ 


Abraham  Lincoln 


'vromwuuig 


Savior  of  his  Country" 


BORN  in  a  log  cabin,  he  ascended  to  the  White  House;  attending 
school  less  than  one  year,  he  became  a  great  orator  and  writer; 
beset  with  disappointments,  and  often  defeated  in  his  cam- 
paigns for  office,  he  rose  above  disappointments  and  defeats  and 
became  one  of  the  most  revered  and  beloved  of  statesmen  in  all 
history.  So  reads  the  romance  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  "Savior  of 
his  Country." 

Abraham  Lincoln,  the  sixteenth  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  on  February  12,  1809,  in  a  rough  log  cabin  on  a  small  farm 
in  the  backwoods  of  Kentucky,  in  what  is  now  Larue  County.  The 
United  States  Government  has  recently  inclosed  this  sacred  hut  in 
a  great  stone  memorial,  thus  seeking  to  preserve  the  birthplace  of 
one  of  its  most  loyal  sons.  Lincoln's  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  who 
could  neither  read  nor  write  (although  Mrs.  Lincoln  did  finally 
teach  him  to  sign  his  name)  was  not  energetic  nor  ambitious,  and  he 
could  not  earn  a  good  living  from  the  hard  frontier  life;  Lincoln's 
mother,  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  was  gentle  and  religious,  and  she 
taught  her  son  many  stories  from  the  Bible. 

In  1816,  after  having  lived  in  several  places,  the  family  moved 
to  Indiana,  working  its  way  through  nearly  one  hundred  miles  of 
forest — Abraham,  then  seven,  using  his  axe  and  gun  like  his  father. 
During  the  first  winter,  they  lived  in  a  three-sided  shed,  with  a 
buffalo-skin  to  close  it.  A  year  later,  a  log  cabin  was  completed, 
but  it  had  only  the  earth  as  a  floor.     The  next  year  Mrs.  Lincoln 


died.     When  a  grown  man,  Abraham  wrote  of  her:  "All  that  I  am 
and  all  that  I  hope  to  be  I  owe  to  my  sainted  mother." 


Education 


T  INCOLN  went  to  school  "by  littles,"  as  he  said,  for  about  nine 
■■— '  years;  but  all  his  schooling  together  did  not  amount  to  one  full 
year.  He  taught  himself  to  read,  cipher,  and  write.  He  had  no 
pencils  or  paper,  but  wrote  his  lessons  and  did  his  sums  on  a 
wooden  shovel  with  a  piece  of  charcoal;  and  when  the  shovel  was 
covered,  he  shaved  it  off  clean  and  used  it  again.  Later,  when  he 
did  secure  pieces  of  paper,  he  copied  his  compositions  on  them  with 
a  pen  made  from  a  wild  turkey's  quill  and  ink  from  blackberry  root. 

Although  he  had  to  work  very  hard  helping  his  father  clear  the 
forest,  plough  ground,  plant  corn,  gather  and  shuck  it,  or  doing  odd 
jobs  for  neighboring  farmers,  he  read  every  book  he  could  lay  his 
hands  on.  He  often  walked  miles  to  borrow  a  book,  and  once  told 
a  friend  that  he  had  "read  through  every  book  that  he  had  heard 
of  within  a  circuit  of  fifty  miles."  He  learned  a  large  part  of  the 
Bible  by  heart,  read  and  re-read  Arabian  Nights,  Aesop's  Fables, 
Robinson  Crusoe,  Pilgrim's  Progress,  Plutarch's  Lives,  a  history  of  the 
United  States,  the  lives  of  Franklin  and  Washington,  and  the 
speeches  of  Henry  Clay. 

Lincoln  was  endowed  with  a  great  deal  of  native  wit,  a  ready 
tongue,  and  the  ability  to  tell  stories.  Because  of  these  gifts,  he 
was  always  a  popular  figure  at  house-raisings  and  husking-bees, 
where  he  entertained  the  country-folk  with  his  speeches  and  funny 
stories.  His  natural  gift  for  speech-making,  coupled  with  a  great 
love  of  justice,  made  him  consider  law  as  a  profession.  But,  because 
he  had  no  law  books  of  his  own  and  no  money  with  which  to  buy 
any,  he  often  walked  twelve  miles  to  the  office  of  an  acquaintance 
to  read  a  volume  on  the  laws  of  Indiana. 

At  nineteen,  Lincoln  stood  six  feet  four  inches  in  his  bare  feet. 
His  arms  and  legs  were  unusually  long,  and  his  hands  and  feet  huge. 
"Every  inch  a  big  rough  clodhopper  he  looked,  in  his  deerskin 
trousers  held  up  by  a  single  suspender.     Shrunk  tight  and  short  for 


his  legs,  they  showed  several  inches  of  bluish  skin  above  his  cowhide 
shoes,  that  were  worn  only  on  Sundays  or  in  very  cold  weather.  A 
coarse  home-spun  shirt  covered  his  gaunt  shoulders  and  arms." 
His  strength  was  equal  to  that  of  three  men;  he  could  lift  and  carry 
a  pair  of  logs  and  could  outrun  and  outwrestle  any  man  or  boy  in 
the  countryside.  Lincoln  did  not  drink,  as  was  the  custom  in  his 
day,  neither  did  he  use  tobacco. 


Down  the  Mississippi 

IN  1828,  when  he  was  nineteen,  Lincoln  was  given  charge  of  a 
neighbor's  flatboat  and  sent  on  an  eighteen-hundred-mile  journey 
down  the  Mississippi  River  to  New  Orleans  to  market  vegetables 
and  bacon  .among  the  cotton  planters.  On  this  trip  he  saw  many 
new  and  strange  sights,  and  henceforth  longed  to  see  and  know 
more  of  the  world. 

Two  years  later,  March,  1830,  the  Lincoln  family  (Lincoln's 
father  had  married  again),  in  wagons  drawn  by  heavy  oxteams, 
moved  to  Illinois  and  built  another  log  cabin.  Abraham  split 
wooden  rails  to  fence  in  ten  acres  of  land,  and  hence,  years  later, 
when  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States,  he  was 
nicknamed  the  "rail  splitter."  The  same  winter,  1830,  he  split 
fourteen  hundred  rails  to  pay  a  woman  for  a  pair  of  trousers  which 
she  made  for  him.  The  next  spring  he  made  a  second  trip  to  New 
Orleans  on  a  flatboat,  and  saw  for  the  first  time  negroes  chained, 
whipped,  and  scourged,  put  on  a  block  and  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder.  It  is  said  that  the  sight  made  him  sick  at  heart  and  that  he 
then  and  there  pledged  himself  to  fight  slavery  if  ever  the  opportunity 
came.  Little  did  he  dream  then  that  his  name  was  to  go  down  in 
history  as  the  great  liberator  of  these  oppressed  peoples. 


War,  Politics,  and  Business 

"Q  ETURNING  from  this  voyage,  Lincoln  settled  in  New  Salem, 
-*-^-  Illinois,  where  he  lived  for  several  years.  At  first  he  did  odd 
jobs  about  town.     Later  he  clerked  in  Denton  Offutt's  store,  finding 


time  to  study  Kirkham's  Grammar,  "lying  full  length  on  the  counter 
with  his  head  on  a  parcel  of  calico,"  and  to  spin  his  famous  yarns 
to  the  men  and  boys  who  gathered  at  the  village  store  to  exchange 
gossip,  and  to  discuss  every  known  subject  from  cock-fighting  to 
politics  and  religion.  Here  he  won  the  lasting  nickname  of  "Honest 
Abe."  He  is  said  to  have  walked  two  miles  to  correct  a  mistake  in 
change  of  six  cents.  But  within  a  year  the  store  "petered  out," 
and  Lincoln,  now  twenty-two,  was  without  a  job. 

When  the  Indian  chief,  Black  Hawk,  who  had  agreed  to  stay 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  broke  the  treaty  in  1832  and  led  his  warriors 
back  into  northern  Illinois,  the  Governor  called  for  volunteer 
soldiers.  Volunteers  from  New  Salem  chose  Lincoln  as  their 
Captain.  But  within  a  few  months  the  Black  Hawk  war  was  over, 
and  Lincoln  and  his  men  never  saw  active  service. 

Lincoln,  ambitious  to  enter  politics,  had,  that  same  spring,  1832, 
written  to  a  local  paper  announcing  that  he  would  be  a  candidate 
in  the  autumn  election  for  the  State  legislature.  Although  he 
secured  very  nearly  all  of  the  votes  of  his  immediate  neighborhood, 
he  was  not  elected. 

With  a  Mr.  Berry  as  partner,  Lincoln  now  bought  three  small 
stores  in  New  Salem  and  combined  them  into  one.  The  purchasing 
was  done  on  credit,  neither  Berry  nor  Lincoln  having  any  money. 
But  this  business  venture  was  not  successful.  Berry  spent  his  time 
drinking,  and  Lincoln  neglected  business  to  read  literature  and  study 
law.  Early  in  1833  the  business  "winked  out,"  as  Lincoln  said,  and 
left  the  firm  owing  $1,200.  Berry  died  soon  after,  and  Lincoln 
assumed  the  entire  debt.  He  might  have  freed  himself  by  declaring 
bankruptcy,  but  he  chose  rather  to  pay  every  dollar  of  this  debt, 
although  it  took  about  fifteen  years  of  struggling  and  saving  to  do  so. 

Lincoln  soon  obtained  the  position  of  assistant  surveyor  to 
John  Calhoun,  then  surveyor  of  the  county.  It  is  said  that  Lincoln's 
first  surveyor's  chain  was  a  grapevine,  but  he  became  extremely 
accurate,  and  continued  surveying  until  he  was  able  to  start  as  a 


lawyer.  Meanwhile  he  was  appointed  local  postmaster;  and  because 
the  mails  were  small  and  infrequent,  he  "carried  the  office  around  in 
his  hat."  

In  the  Illinois  State  Legislature 

"/^AN'T  the  party  raise  any  better  material  than  that?"  asked  a 
^  bystander,  as  he  looked  at  Lincoln,  who  was  about  to  make  a 
speech  in  his  second  campaign  for  State  legislator  in  1834.  After 
Lincoln's  speech  the  bystander  exclaimed  that  he  knew  more  than 
all  the  other  candidates  put  together.  This  time  Lincoln  was 
elected,  and  thereafter  he  was  elected  for  three  further  terms,  of  two 
years  each,  making  eight  years  in  all. 

Lincoln,  in  1834,  went  to  Vandalia,  then  the  State  capital,  in  a 
brand-new  suit  of  "store  clothes"  bought  with  money  loaned  by  a 
friend.  Here  he  met  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  who  for  years  was  to  be 
his  rival  in  more  than  one  affair.  In  1836,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven,  Lincoln  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  went  to  live  in  Spring- 
field, the  new  State  capital.  On  a  borrowed  horse,  and  with  little 
money,  he  rode  up  to  the  store  of  an  acquaintance,  Mr.  Speed,  and 
asked  if  he  could  buy  bedding  and  have  credit  until  Christmas,  when 
he  hoped  to  be  a  success  at  law.  "If  I  fail  in  this,"  he  said,  "I  do 
not  know  that  I  can  ever  pay  you."  Speed  offered  to  share  his  own 
large  bed  with  him  in  his  room  over  the  store.  Lincoln  carried  his 
saddle  bags  up  to  the  room,  dropped  them  on  the  floor,  and  came 
back  beaming  with  delight.     "Well,  Speed,  I've  moved!"  he  said. 

The  legislature  of  Illinois,  in  which  Lincoln  spent  eight  years, 
was  a  school  in  which  his  power  and  wisdom  as  a  statesman  first 
developed.  He  lived  close  to  the  people,  and  believed  in  their 
judgment  as  the  surest  guide  to  right  in  public  affairs.  As  leader 
of  the  "Long  Nine" — a  nickname  for  the  nine  members,  all  over  six 
feet  tall,  from  his  county  of  Sangamon,  he  worked  hard  to  give  the 
State,  railroads,  canals,  and  banks.  At  this  time,  Lincoln  proved  his 
great  courage  in  standing  almost  alone  against  the  whole  State 


■"-*  «~*l  U„iv„8iv 


legislature.  The  Abolitionists  (people  in  favor  of  freeing  the  slaves) 
were  causing  considerable  agitation  over  slavery,  and  the  Illinois 
legislature  passed  resolutions  condemning  their  acts  and  stating  that 
the  Congress  had  no  power  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  Southern 
States.  Lincoln  drew  up  and  placed  before  the  House  a  protest 
against  these  resolutions,  stating  that  "the  institution  of  slavery  is 
founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy."  Only  one  other  man 
would  sign  this  protest  with  Lincoln,  and  that  man  was  not  seeking 
reelection  to  the  legislature. 

During  these  eight  years,  Lincoln  was  also  practicing  law,  and 
he  became  widely  known  and  admired  as  he  rode  about  the  country 
with  the  district  judge  from  one  court  house  to  another.  In  1843,  he 
entered  a  law  partnership  with  William  Herndon.  In  his  rules  for 
lawyers,  Lincoln  says:  "Resolve  to  be  honest  at  all  events;  and  if  in 
your  own  judgment  you  cannot  be  an  honest  lawyer,  resolve  to  be 
honest  without  being  a  lawyer."  He  followed  his  own  advice,  and 
would  defend  only  such  cases  as  he  believed  to  be  absolutely  right 
and  just.  Once  he  gave  up  a  case  in  the  middle  of  a  testimony 
when  he  found  that  he  was  on  the  wrong  side.  He  had  the  habit 
of  telling  stories  that  not  only  spread  good  humor  in  the  court- 
room, but  that  made  his  case  clear:  he  usually  argued  with  great 
sympathy  and  tenderness,  but  when  enraged  by  a  falsehood  or 
injustice,  his  attack  was  as  piercing  and  deadly  as  a  dagger.  Juries 
and  judges  came  to  feel  that  Lincoln's  side  in  a  case  was  almost 
invariably  the  right  side.  He  soon  became  one  of  the  best  lawyers 
in  Illinois. 

When  a  young  man,  Lincoln  had  won  the  love  of  Ann  Rutledge. 
When  she  died,  his  grief  was  so  great  his  friends  feared  that  he  would 
lose  his  mind.  Years  later,  in  1842,  Lincoln  and  Douglas  were 
rivals  for  the  heart  and  hand  of  Mary  Todd,  a  handsome  young 
woman  from  Kentucky.  Lincoln  was  the  victor,  and  they  were 
married  on  November  4,  1842.  Four  boys  were  born  to  them,  one 
of  whom,  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  later  became  United  States  Ambassador 
to  London.  Lincoln's  married  life  was  not  entirely  happy,  but  he 
loved  his  children  dearly,  and  whenever  possible  he  was  their  constant 
companion. 


Lincoln  and  Slavery 

TX  7HEN  the  thirteen  colonies  of  America  became  independent  of 
*  *  England  and  formed  themselves  into  a  nation,  slavery  was 
permitted  by  law  in  every  State.  But  as  time  went  on,  the  Northern 
States  developed  industries  which  did  not  need  negro  labor,  and  the 
Southern  States  grew  tobacco,  cotton,  and  rice,  which  gave  employ- 
ment to  great  numbers  of  negroes.  So,  naturally,  negroes  were 
used  more  and  more  in  the  South.  Finally,  the  Northern  States 
passed  laws  against  the  holding  of  negroes  as  slaves;  the  Southern 
States  did  not  pass  such  laws,  because  they  wanted  the  negro  slaves 
to  work  in  their  fields.  While  many  slaves  were  treated  kindly 
by  their  masters,  others  were  not.  There  were  no  laws  in  the  South 
to  protect  the  slaves.  They  were  bought  and  sold  as  so  much 
property,  and  were  compelled  to  work  long  and  hard  for  no  pay 
except  such  food,  clothing,  and  shelter  as  their  masters  chose  to 
give  them. 

In  1847,  Lincoln  took  his  seat  in  the  United  States  House  of 
Representatives  to  serve  a  two-year  term.  Here  he  declared  that: 
"If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is  wrong.*'  He  fought  for  a  plan 
to  keep  slavery  out  of  the  territory  from  Texas  to  Oregon,  which  had 
just  been  taken  from  Mexico  in  war.  He  declared  that  he  voted  for 
this  plan  "at  least  forty  times,"  but  to  no  avail.  He  also  tried  to 
get  a  law  passed  to  free  slaves  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  but 
failed. 

His  term  in  Congress  ending,  he  was  not  reelected;  so  he  returned 
to  his  law  practice.  He  was  greatly  in  need  of  money.  Besides 
supporting  his  own  family,  he  sent  money  to  his  father,  his  step- 
mother, and  a  step-brother,  and  after  his  father's  death,  he  paid  off 
a  mortgage  on  the  old  home.  He  "rode  the  circuit,"  a  "gray  shawl 
about  his  shoulders,  carrying  a  carpet  bag,  fat  with  papers  and  cloth- 
ing, and  a  faded  green  cotton  umbrella  without  a  handle,  tied  with 
a  piece  of  twine." 

In  1854  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  became  a  law.  It  was  intro- 
duced into  the  Senate  by   Douglas,  and   permitted  the  two  new 


territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to  decide  for  themselves,  when 
they  asked  to  be  admitted  to  the  Union,  whether  they  would  be  free 
or  slave  States.  The  North  realized  that  this  new  law  opened  to 
slavery  the  great  territory  of  the  northwest,  from  which  nine  States 
have  since  been  made.  Lincoln  gave  the  warning  cry:  "Slavery  is 
spreading  like  wildfire  over  the  country."  Slavery  became  the  chief 
political  problem  of  the  country.  The  Republican  Party  was  born 
at  this  time,  with  Abraham  Lincoln  as  one  of  the  founders.  At  the 
first  Republican  National  Convention  held  in  Philadelphia,  1856, 
Lincoln  was  conspicuously  mentioned  as  candidate  for  Vice-Presi- 
dency, but  was  not  nominated. 

Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas  came  back  to  Illinois  and  boldly 
defended  his  Kansas-Nebraska  bill;  whereupon  Lincoln  made  answer 
in  a  three-hour  speech  which  made  him  the  champion  in  the 
great  cause  of  human  liberty  and  which  marked  the  opening  of 
the  final  conflict  between  the  North  and  the  South.  In  1858  the 
Democrats  of  Illinois  nominated  Douglas  as  Senator;  and  the 
Republicans  declared  that:  "The  Honorable  Abraham  Lincoln  is  our 
first  and  only  choice  for  United  States  Senator."  Cheering  throngs 
packed  the  floor  and  galleries  of  the  State  House  at  Springfield  to 
hear  Lincoln's  speech  of  acceptance.  His  words  have  come  down 
to  us,  ringing  with  truth  and  justice:  "A  house  divided  against  itself 
cannot  stand.  I  believe  that  this  government  cannot  endure  per- 
manently half  slave  and  half  free." 

Lincoln  now  challenged  Douglas  to  meet  him  in  a  series  of 
debates.  Seven  debates  were  held.  People  came  from  all  over  the 
country  to  the  towns  in  Illinois  where  the  debates  took  place,  to 
hear  these  speakers.  It  is  said  that  at  one  place,  when  the  town 
could  no  longer  hold  the  crowds,  thousands  spent  the  night  in  the 
fields,  their  "campfires  spread  up  and  down  the  valley  for  a  mile, 
making  it  look  as  if  an  army  were  gathered  there."  Douglas  rode 
on  a  special  train ;  Lincoln  in  a  crowded  car  with  the  people.  Douglas 
once  arrived  in  an  elegant  carriage  drawn  by  four  white  horses; 


Lincoln  came  in  an  old-fashioned,  canvas-covered  pioneer  wagon. 
Douglas's  arguments  were  fluent  and  brilliant;  Lincoln's  were 
straightforward  and  simple,  reaching  the  very  hearts  of  the  people. 
Indeed,  as  Lincoln  lost  himself  in  his  subject,  his  voice  rang  with  a 
deep,  strange  beauty,  his  sad  eyes  kindled,  and  his  tall,  gaunt  figure 
acquired  a  certain  majesty. 

Douglas  argued  that  people  had  the  right  to  choose  for  themselves 
whether  or  not  they  would  have  slaves.  Lincoln  argued  that  no 
man  had  the  right  to  be  master  of  another;  that  slavery  was  wrong 
and  that  it  must  be  abolished.  Although  Douglas  won  the  election 
as  Senator,  Lincoln  was  soon  to  have  a  greater  honor, — that  of 
becoming  President  of  the  United  States. 


President  of  the  United  States 

A  FTER  the  debates  with  Douglas,  Lincoln's  reputation  as  a  great 
■*-*■  orator  spread  throughout  the  country,  and  he  was  invited  to 
address  audiences  in  every  part  of  the  United  States.  The  New  York 
Tribune  said  of  his  speech  at  Cooper  Institute  in  New  York,  Feb- 
ruary, 1860,  "No  man  ever  made  such  an  impression  in  his  first 
appeal  to  a  New  York  audience."  This  famous  speech  was  printed 
and  quoted  everywhere,  and  it  aided  in  securing  his  election  as 
President. 

As  the  presidential  election  of  1860  drew  near,  intense  bitterness 
spread  between  the  North  and  the  South.  Some  of  the  Southern 
States  were  determined  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  rather  than 
submit  to  a  "Black  Republican,"  a  term  of  contempt  for  Lincoln, 
who  believed  in  freedom  for  men  with  black  skins.  But  on  November 
6,  1860,  Abraham  was  elected  the  sixteenth  President  of  the  United 
States.  The  next  February,  seven  Southern  States — South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas — had 
left  the  Union,  formed  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  and 
elected  Jefferson  Davis  as  their  President. 


In  Lincoln's  inaugural  address,  delivered  March  4,  1861,  he 
said:  "The  Union  of  these  States  (United  States)  is  perpetual.  No 
State  upon  its  own  mere  motion  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union." 
Later  he  said:  "The  country  has  placed  me  at  the  helm  of  the  ship; 
I'll  try  to  steer  her  through."  Many  were  those  who  shook  their 
heads  and  asked:  "Will  that  awkward  old  backwoodsman  really  get 
that  ship  through?"  Lincoln,  although  he  did  not  always  see  his 
way  far  ahead,  appealed  to  his  enemies  as  well  as  to  his  friends  to 
"Forget  ourselves  and  join  hands  like  brothers  to  save  the  Union." 

Considerate,  gentle,  tender,  firm  as  a  rock  when  he  made  up  his 
mind,  yet  with  a  power  to  inspire  and  hold  his  followers,  through 
years  of  suffering  and  failure,  steady  to  their  purpose,  Abraham 
Lincoln  finally  proved  himself  the  most  popular  and  beloved  states- 
man in  America.  He  loved  the  common  people,  and  they  trusted 
him.  Often  his  Cabinet  suggested  that  he  write  his  state  papers  in 
more  elegant  form,  but  he  continued  to  write  them  in  his  own  simple 
language,  saying,  "The  people  will  understand." 


Beginning  of  Civil  War 

"\  7TRGINIA,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  and  North  Carolina  joined  the 
*  Southern  Federation  which  chose  Richmond,  Virginia,  as  its 
capital  and  selected  Robert  E.  Lee  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  its 
army.  On  April  12,  1861,  the  Confederacy  began  the  Civil  War  by 
firing  upon  the  Union  flag  flying  over  Fort  Sumter,  South  Carolina. 
Lincoln,  who  from  the  very  first  declared  the  war  to  be  for  the 
Union,  not  against  slavery,  issued  a  call  for  75,000  volunteers  and 
made  George  B.  McClellan  chief  commander  of  the  Northern  army. 
In  July  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  the  first  real  fight  of  the  war,  was  a 
victory  for  the  South.  The  North  was  stunned  by  this  blow.  For 
months  and  months  General  McClellan  organized  and  drilled  an 
excellent  army,  but  made  no  move  against  the  South.  It  remained 
for  General  U.  S.  Grant  to  win  the  first  Northern  victories.  Early 
in  the  winter  of  1862  he  captured  Ft.  Henry  and  Ft.  Donelson. 


When  the  commander  of  Ft.  Donelson  asked  for  terms,  Grant  replied : 
"No  terms  except  an  unconditional  and  immediate  surrender." 
The  Northerners  hailed  Grant  with  delight  and  said  that  his  initials 
(U.  S.)  stood  for  "Unconditional  Surrender."  Lincoln  finally 
dismissed  McClellan  and  made  Grant  commander  of  the  Northern 
forces. 

But  the  North  was  to  meet  defeat  after  defeat,  and  Lincoln, 
whose  small  son,  Willie,  died  at  this  time,  grew  more  and  more  tender 
toward  the  suffering.  He  often  visited  the  camps,  hospitals,  and 
prisons,  talked  with  officers  and  men  and  won  their  confidence  and 
love.  It  is  said  that  throughout  the  war  a  Bible  lay  on  his  desk, 
that  he  read  it  often,  and  many  times  spent  all  night  in  prayer. 


Freedom  for  Slaves 

A  LTHOUGH  Lincoln  put  the  saving  of  the  Union  as  the  first 
'**'  great  purpose  of  the  war,  by  1862,  he  knew  that  the  abolishing 
of  slavery  should  be  made  the  second  great  purpose  of  the  war. 
Thousands  of  slaves  were  escaping  to  the  North,  and,  in  July,  1862, 
the  Congress  passed  a  law  permitting  these  escaped  slaves  to  enter 
the  Northern  army,  and  allowing  them  and  their  families  freedom. 
Lincoln  first  tried  to  have  the  slaves  freed  gradually  and  to  have  the 
Government  pay  their  owners  for  their  loss,  but  the  South  would  not 
agree  to  this  plan.  Then  in  his  own  quiet,  sincere  way,  without 
even  consulting  his  Cabinet,  Lincoln  framed  the  mighty  sentences 
of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  But  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe 
for  announcing  this  proclamation.  The  Northern  Army  was  defeated 
at  Cedar  Mountain  and  in  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and 
was  now  facing  Lee,  who  had  crossed  the  Potomac  into  Maryland. 
Lincoln  told  his  Cabinet  that  he  had  made  a  promise  to  himself 
and  his  Maker,  that  if  God  gave  the  victory  in  the  approaching 
battle,  he  would  consider  that  God  had  decided  his  questions  in  favor 
of  the  slaves.  It  seems  that  God  was  on  Lincoln's  side,  because 
on  September   17   the  Northerners  were  victorious  at  Antietam. 


Five  days  later,  Lincoln  issued  the  preliminary  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  making  four  million  slaves,  "On  the  first  of  January, 
1863, — thenceforth  and  forever  free." 

On  New  Year's  day,  when  Lincoln  signed  the  final  draft  of  the 
Proclamation,  he  said:  "If  my  name  ever  gets  into  history,  it  will  be 
for  this  act,  and  my  whole  soul  is  in  it." 

But  the  war  was  not  yet  over.  The  North  suffered  terrible 
defeats  at  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville,  but  victory  awaited 
them  at  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg.  Lincoln  kept  a  large  map  of 
the  United  States  on  his  wall  and  carefully  followed  the  movements 
of  the  armies.  Day  and  night  he  studied  the  campaign,  pored  over 
military  books  on  strategy,  planned  movements  with  his  generals, 
and  often  directed  his  leaders.  But  his  heart  ached  for  the  men  on 
the  battlefields  and  for  their  anxious  families  at  home.  His  face 
became  thin  and  drawn,  his  eyes  heavy  and  sunken,  and  he  remarked : 
"I  feel  as  though  I  shall  never  be  glad  again."  Once  when  a  Union 
general  urged  him  to  execute  twenty  soldiers  for  deserters  he  an- 
swered: "There  are  already  too  many  weeping  widows  in  the  United 
States.  For  God's  sake  don't  ask  me  to  add  to  the  number,  for  I 
won't  do  it." 

The  autumn  of  1863  brought  the  Northern  victory  at  Chat- 
tanooga. The  next  spring  saw  Grant  beginning  his  attack  on  Rich- 
mond, with  heavy  losses  at  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania,  and  Cold 
Harbor.  Although  Lincoln's  term  of  office  was  coming  to  a  close, 
he  felt  that  he  must  stand  by  Grant,  even  if  it  cost  him  the  presidency. 
He  called  upon  the  North  for  more  men.  By  this  time  the  people 
had  learned  to  love  and  trust  Lincoln,  and  they  rallied  round  him, 
shouting:  "We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand 
strong."     Again  they  elected  him  President. 

In  the  Congress  of  January,  1865,  Lincoln's  lifelong  dream  and 
hope  became  a  great  reality  when  an  amendment  was  added  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  forever  forbidding  slavery  in  every 
part  of  the  United  States,  North  and  South  alike.     In  his  second 


inaugural  address,  delivered  March  4,  1865,  Lincoln  said:  "Fondly 
do  we  hope — fervently  do  we  pray — that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war 
may  speedily  pass  away  .  .  .  With  malice  toward  none;  with 
charity  for  all ;  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the 
right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in;  to  bind  up  the 
nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle, 
and  for  his  widow,  and  his  orphan, — to  do  all  which  may  achieve 
and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all 
nations." 

But  it  was  not  until  after  Sherman  had  marched  through  Georgia 
(The  Northern  army,  on  April  3,  1865,  had  entered  Richmond,  and 
Lee,  on  April  9,  had  finally  surrendered  to  Grant  at  Appomattox 
Court  House.)  that  the  war  was  over.  When  the  news  of  Lee's 
surrender  reached  the  White  House,  Lincoln  met  with  his  Cabinet, 
and  at  his  word,  silently  and  in  tears,  they  knelt  and  gave  humble 
thanks  to  God. 

The  wildest  delight  swept  the  land.  The  long  and  terrible  war 
between  the  Blue  and  the  Gray  was  over!  The  Union  was  saved! 
The  slaves  were  free!  Abraham  Lincoln  was  hailed  as  the  great 
friend  of  the  people,  the  liberator  of  an  oppressed  race.  Lincoln 
went  to  Richmond,  the  recent  capital  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
He  passed  a  group  of  negroes  digging  at  a  river  landing.  One  of 
them,  an  old  man,  saw  Lincoln,  leaped  forward,  and  cried,  exulting: 
"Bress  de  Lord,  dere  is  de  great  Messiah!  I  knowed  him  as  soon 
as  I  seed  him.  He's  bin  in  my  heart  fo'  long  yeahs,  and  he's  cum  at 
las'  to  free  his  chillum  from  dere  bondage!  Glory  Hallelujah!" 
The  old  negro  fell  on  his  knees  and  kissed  Lincoln's  feet.  Surrounded 
by  kneeling  negroes,  Lincoln  spoke:  "Don't  kneel  to  me.  Kneel  to 
God  only,  and  thank  Him  for  liberty." 

Lincoln  had  no  hatred  for  the  South.  He  honored  the  valor  of 
the  Southern  soldiers  and  generals.  He  called  Stonewall  Jackson  a 
"Brave,  honest  soldier,"  and  once,  when  looking  at  Lee's  picture,  he 
said:  "It  is  the  face  of  a  brave  and  noble  man." 


"Now  He  Belongs  to  the  Ages" 

/"^iREAT  of  heart  and  mind,  the  kindly  Lincoln  has  won  the 
^-*  hearts  of  the  people  as  few  men  in  all  the  world's  history  have 
ever  won  them.  He  once  remarked  that  "God  must  love  the  com- 
mon people,  he  made  so  many  of  them."  It  has  been  said  that  he 
never  forsook  a  friend  or  lost  an  opportunity  to  do  a  kind  deed,  be 
it  ever  so  humble  a  one.  His  last  official  act  was  one  of  mercy:  he 
signed  a  pardon  for  a  soldier  who  had  been  sentenced  to  be  shot  for 
desertion,  and,  as  he  did  so,  Lincoln  remarked:  "I  think  the  boy  can 
do  us  more  good  above  ground  than  under  ground." 

The  evening  of  the  very  day  when  he  signed  this  pardon,  April 
14,  1865,  he  went  to  the  Ford  Theatre  with  Mrs.  Lincoln,  to  see 
the  play,  "Our  American  Cousin."  His  box  was  draped  with  flags; 
the  happy  excitement  of  war  ended,  victory  won,  and  peace  prom- 
ised, was  everywhere.  At  twenty  minutes  after  ten  o'clock,  when  all 
eyes  were  on  the  stage,  a  pistol  shot  rang  out.  Lincoln  fell  forward  in 
his  chair,  his  assassin  leaped  to  the  stage,  caught  his  spur  in  a  flag, 
fell,  broke  his  leg,  but  succeeded  in  getting  to  the  stage  door  and 
riding  away  on  a  horse.  Mrs.  Lincoln  cried  out:  "He  has  murdered 
the  President."  Lincoln  was  carried  to  a  house  opposite,  where  he 
lay  silently  all  night — while  all  Washington  watched,  praying  for  his 
life — but  the  next  morning,  without  regaining  consciousness,  he  died. 
Stanton,  his  great  friend,  whispered  to  those  about  the  bedside: 
"Now  he  belongs  to  the  ages." 

From  that  day  to  this  all  the  world  has  paid  tribute  to  Abraham 
Lincoln,  the  poor,  homely,  awkward  backwoods  boy  who  rose  to  the 
highest  station  possible  within  his  country.  By  his  virtuous  deeds 
and  his  great  kindnesses,  he  has  endeared  himself  to  liberty- 
loving  mankind  for  all  time.  He  is  now  revered  as  the  "Savior 
of  his  Country,"  a  "Masterpiece  of  God." 


I  he  debates  with  Douglas,  in 
1858,  brought  Lincoln's  talents 
and  ability  into  nation-wide 
prominence. 


Issue  No.80.  —Copyright,  1923.  — John  Hancock  mutual  life  Ins.  Co.,  Boston.  Mass. 


T 


vvw 


Presented  by  the 


RANCE  COMPANY 

of  Boston.  Massachusetts 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  URBANA 

973.7L63BC19A1923  C001 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  SAVIOR  OF  HIS  COUNTRY. 


3  0112  031785253 


